Curious Archer Christmas
by Curious Archer
Summary: Alice and Robin have an eventful Christmas. Pure cute fluffiness for twenty six days!
1. Memories Of Christmas Past

**I've been out of commission for a few weeks. The reason being my laptop was buggered and my back up laptop was also buggered. I was really screwed and stuck on my back up back up which was slow and crashed a couple times. Thankfully everything is back up and running on my new laptop now and I have all my old stories back!**

 **However, I am still putting a pause on my other stories for the moment. Only because I plan to post a chapter of this story every day on the build up to Christmas. And in order to do that, it will need to keep my full attention. So, update, Gothel's Perfect World and my oneshot prompts will continue at the end of this month and definitely in January.**

 **Thanks to all the patient people and enjoy this endless fluff of Alice and Robin sharing their first Christmas.**

* * *

The best kind of morning? One that involved being woken by true love's Kiss.

Okay, Alice wasn't under any curse that needed to be woken by the magical kiss, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy it when it happened none the less. She kept her eyes shut for a bit longer but smiled into the kiss, leaning up and pushing herself forward into the warm feeling that was quickly rushing over her face. When she felt her love pulling away from her, Alice quickly reached up, wrapping her arms around Robin's shoulders and pulling her back down onto the bed sheets for another sweet embrace, deepening the kiss slightly and humming happily against her lips.

When Robin finally succeeded in breaking their kiss, Alice found she was forced to crack her eyes lids open, wincing at the sudden light that filled her vision from the nearby window. She continued smiling despite the brightness of the light and squinted through it, looking up at where Robin was still leaning over her. The other girl returned her grin, her long hair dangling down one shoulder to tickle Alice's chin. It really was the very best way to wake up in the morning – that was for sure.

"Good morning," Robin said softly. "I got you a present."

"A present?" Alice blinked, sitting up and brushing her own tangled hair out of her face, wiping the last sleep from her eyes at the same time. "What for?"

"You'll see." Robin giggled, reaching to a bag sitting by the bed and pulling out something. She made sure to sit at an angle to block Alice's view before dramatically twisting around and handing it to her. "Surprise! I got us matching Christmas Calendars!"

Alice blinked down at the calendar, taking it slowly from Robin's hands as she did. It had a picture of the cartoon fox from the old animated Disney film 'Robin Hood'. She glanced back up and saw Robin pull a second thin rectangle shape, only one with a picture from the animated Disney film 'Alice In Wonderland' and she held it close on her lap like it was precious to her. Each cardboard shape had a series of numbers littering the pictures, out of order, with odd little boxes circled around each of them. They were cute pictures and Alice knew what they represented, but Alice had a feeling there was more to it than just nice imagery.

"Um... Cool..." Suddenly Alice paused, a memory flashing in her head. A Tilly memory. They weren't always as clear as her real memories anymore (a side effect from the curse, due to the caster never actually crushing a heart like the spell asked for) but they still sometimes came through clearly enough for her to understand. And the one popping into her head now reminded her of what a Christmas Calendar was. She passed them in the shops often during the build up to the holidays, though didn't pay much attention to any of it at the time. Tilly was never one for Christmas celebrating...

"You okay?" Robin asked softly when Alice didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"Yeah, I just wasn't sure what it was at first." Alice smiled. "I never really had one before."

"I kind of figured." Robin nodded, sitting back slightly. "I remember you guys don't celebrate Christmas in the Enchanted Forest, but didn't you get a chance during the cursed years?"

"Not really. Tilly was all alone so there wasn't much point." Alice shrugged, sounding more factual about it rather than sad.

"Well, we can change that now." Robin said firmly, reaching over and placing her hands over Alice's on top of the calendar. "Because now we have all the amazing Christmas' of our lives yet to come. And we'll share all of them together and with the rest of the town."

Alice grinned at her, finding Robin's enthusiasm adorable. "So what's Christmas in Storybrooke like?"

"Oh it's amazing!" Robin laughed. "I don't know what it was like before I was born, but by the time I was older, it was like a living Winter Wonderland!"

Alice raised an eyebrow at the choice of phrasing but didn't interrupt her. She didn't quite understand Robin's suddenly excitement for today. But then, as she had already told Robin in the days before the curse was cast, the Enchanted Forest never celebrated Christmas, and even if they had, it wouldn't have meant anything to Alice. She would have spent it the way she spent every other day of her life. Locked away in her tower, all alone. During those days, Alice didn't do much beside wish for things to be different and dream of the day she would get to see her papa again… So she wouldn't have cared for the celebrations even if she had known about them.

And then even after she had escaped, she spent her time travelling around and not staying anywhere long enough to celebrate even her own birthday with anyone else, let alone celebrate anything else with others. And that didn't change all that much after Robin came into the picture. She was so used to not celebrating by the time she met with her, that short of occasionally exchanging presents further into their relationship, it was always as typical a day as any other. The only time things really began changing was after the curse when Alice had been Tilly. And, to continue a cycle, Tilly never celebrated the holidays either.

It wasn't that surprising. Tilly was practically all alone in the world – except for Weaver who didn't celebrate much either – and she lived in a crate by the train tracks with no money to do much of anything besides paying for her day's meal when she couldn't get Weaver to do it for her. What was the point in celebrating a holiday that was all about being with family and loved ones when you didn't really have any?

"Hey, day-dreamer?" Robin laughed, tucking her finger under Alice's chin and lifting her head up to look at her. "You still with me?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking to past Christmas'." Alice admitted. "They were all basically the same for me."

"Well, mine wasn't really varied either." Robin confessed. "I guess once you settle into tradition, it's hard to break them."

"What kind of traditions?" Alice asked, finding herself eager to hear what Christmas was like for her wife before they met.

Robin hesitated, thinking it over for a moment before she smiled and reached for Alice's calendar. She opened the number one door and pulled out a small square of milk chocolate. It was unclear, but it looked like it had a small star shape on its surface and Robin held it up to Alice's lips with a patient smile. After a second, Alice opened her lips and let Robin slip the chocolate into her mouth for her.

"Well, we start with eating the chocolate from our calendars!" Robin grinned, leaning forward and kissing Alice's softly as she chewed sweet. "Then we'd open our presents and after, go for a walk through town to the clock tower. Everyone would be there and we'd all have lunch and say hi to friends and wish everyone a merry Christmas and all the corny, over the top, things mum, Snow, Emma and Henry saw on TV. To be honest, I never really liked that stuff, cause I was always cold and I always figured we could just call everyone to wish them a good day from our homes or something easier. But we had to do it anyway because everyone else did and mum was obsessed with getting me out of the house. It was better once we got home because then it was a really chill day until evening, then Snow would come round and pretty much kidnap anyone under eighteen who couldn't fight back, taking us for a long caroling."

"I'd like to try caroling." Alice noted suddenly, reaching for Robin's calendar and copying her, taking out the first chocolate and holding it out for her.

Robin happily took the chocolate between her teeth, grinning before flicking her head back and letting it fall into her open mouth. "We can do that sometime if you like. I wasn't really into it at the time, but I'd love to go if I could hear you sing all the old Christmas tunes."

"So what was it like later?" Alice pressed. "After you've sung carols on Christmas night?"

"Mostly it was just relaxing. We'd have a special dinner and mum and me had this private tradition where we'd make homemade apple tarts and then eat them while watching A Nightmare Before Christmas together." Robin explained. "Mum loved that film, though I couldn't tell you why." She laughed. "It was an okay flick but I never saw the appeal she had. And I always saw it more as a Halloween films than a Christmas one."

"I don't think I've ever seen it." Alice confessed.

"We'll watch it." Robin said immediately. "Whenever you want!"

"I'd like that." Alice said, then paused and laughed. "It's only the first and we've already got a list of things we need to do!"

"Well we have a full month to do them!" Robin shrugged cheerfully.

"You think we can do it all in just one month?" Alice giggled.

"We can sure as hell try." Robin smirked. "And if not, there's always next year!"

Alice laughed again, putting her calendar to the side and moving forward to crouch on her knees. She leaned towards Robin and smiled slyly. "So... What shall we do for our first day of the Christmas month?"

"I have a few ideas." Robin replied, smirking back and leaning towards her.

"Oh? Just a few?" Alice asked, reaching to drape her arms over Robin's shoulders, leaning against her now.

Before Robin could say anything else, Alice tightened her hold on her shoulders and pulled her back down onto the bed and in between the sheets. They didn't stay there all day. But they made the most of the time that they did.


	2. Decorating

"It's really getting cold." Robin noted, shivering and tightening the hold she had where she and Alice had looped their arms around one another. "Won't be long before it starts snowing."

"A white Christmas! Isn't that what's in all those Christmas stories?" Alice laughed, curling against her side as best as she could. It really was getting cold and she could see her own icy breath frosting in front of her every time she spoke.

"Most of 'em." Robin admitted. "Personally I'd rather a hot sunny beach side Christmas!"

"Maybe next year." Alice laughed.

"It's a date." Robin kissed her cheek.

Alice grinned and raised an eyebrow at her. "I didn't know you hated snow, though. You always said you missed it in the Enchanted Forest."

"Oh I don't hate snow. I love it! And I did miss it a lot when we never had it, but as much as I love the snow, I still hate the cold!" Robin laughed, shivering as if to prove her point. "It's like; I'm fine with the cold so long as we get some snow out of it. But the dry cold or rainy cold is just lousy. There's nothing good about it, if you ask me."

"I don't know about that." Alice said, resting her head on Robin's shoulder. They were quite close in height, so it was a little awkward, doing it while still walking, but somehow Alice managed it in a way that made it look easy. "Cuddling's a pretty fun winter sport."

"Okay, you got me there." Robin grinned, leaning her head against Alice's in return.

They kept walking through the brisk late morning dew, down the quiet streets of Storybrooke's town as quickly as they could manage while holding onto one another and tightly bundled in warm layers. It really was a chilly morning and they were both looking forward to tucking themselves back inside, but only after they had made a quick trip to see Zelena.

Yesterday afternoon, they had received a call from Robin's mother, asking if they wanted to take some of the families old Christmas decorations for their own house. She and Chad had recently bought a new set with them from their old home, but they knew how sentimental Robin could be over these things and thought she might like a few of her childhood ones before they were all thrown out. And she was right. Not only was Robin unwilling to let so many old memories be simply tossed aside, but between their minimum wage jobs, Alice and Robin could barely afford their rent and other basic necessities, let alone a whole new set of Christmas decorations. And this wasn't even including all the present they still needed to buy everyone. So it was a big relief to be offered everything for free. And Alice was also looking forward to seeing what kind of things Robin grew up with as a child on Christmas.

As they finally approached the house sitting at the end of one of Storybrooke's original streets, the picked up speed slightly, never breaking the hold they had on one another's arms as they did. Even with all their tops, jumpers, jackets and coats that they had pulled on themselves before leaving the house, the two were quickly becoming very blue from the cold air hanging around and noticeably shivered against each other. They were both eager to grab the decorations and get home to their warm waiting house as soon as possible.

"Mum!" Robin called as they approached the door, knocking hard on the surface before they'd even come to a complete stop. She had a key but was far too cold to waste the time fishing it out of her pocket. "We're here!"

A few seconds later, the door swung open, revealing the Wicked Witch of the West herself. Zelena was positively glowing, and had been ever since they returned to the United Realms together. But that wasn't surprising. When Zelena had joined the others, she was forced to make a decision and tell Chad the whole truth – all of it – about who she really was. She had confessed and proven her story to him with magic, and was then immediately shunned while he worked through his shock. Zelena had been depressed during the build up to returning home, and had cried often, waiting for him to return to her. At one point, it seemed like he never would and Zelena's heart ache grew so intense, all her family became seriously worried for her.

But of course, Chad did come back. He returned to her at the last possible second, declaring that the last few weeks were painful for him but he truly loved Kelly, whether she was Zelena or whatever other name she went under, and he would do anything to make their relationship work. Even if it meant accepting a crazy world of magic and leaving his life in San Francisco behind for a whole new land halfway across the country. It was a romantic spectacle and everyone was relieved when Zelena burst into fresh tears, knowing these were ones of joy.

Some people were worried he might change his mind once he saw the full world he had agreed to be part of, or when he began missing the old friends and family he was now forced to lie to and see only on the holidays he could travel back to San Francisco. Regina in particular kept an eye on him, as if daring Chad to leave and break her sisters heart. But in the end he surprised everyone, Zelena included. It took some time, but bit by bit, he grew more comfortable with this new life and with the woman he really married. And soon they were almost like a normal couple again, even if, after all this time, Chad was still adjusting to certain aspects of the United Realms.

"Robin, what took you?!" Zelena laughed, stepping over the threshold and grabbing them. "It's freezing! Get inside, quickly!" She shivered dramatically. "Brrr!"

"We weren't that long." Robin grinned. "Be easier if you just poofed us here, you know."

"Yeah well, Chad's still a little uncomfortable about me using magic," Zelena admitted shyly.

"Oh, I thought he was doing better." Robin mumbled, glancing around the hallway for the man in question.

"He is!" Zelena said quickly. "It's just gonna take time before I can fly home on a broomstick again, that's all."

Robin and Alice smiled at her as they wandered down the hall and into the living room, listening to Zelena talk about how her driving was improving at least. They had just stepped into the doorway where they promptly froze on the spot. "Holy hell mum!"

The whole living room – usually so clean and well kept – was stuffed with an endless arrange of boxes lying side by side and piled atop of one another, filling up any spare the original furniture didn't. The boxes varied from colours of plain brown, to dark red, to old faded black boxes with shoe and clothes still clinging logos onto them. One even had a picture of an old PC on that Robin remembered her mother buying for her when she started high school, now empty and full of brightly coloured tinsel and tree decorations instead. And that wasn't even including the decorations that seemingly didn't fit inside the boxes and had so been left lying on top of everything else.

"I thought you said you had a _couple_ of boxes?!" Robin shouted, gaping at everything lying in front of them.

"Um, I don't think we're going to be able to carry all these by ourselves." Alice noted.

"Seriously! I thought you said you had a couple! Like you were actually keeping some for yourself. Why are you getting rid of all of it?" Robin yelped.

"Well we _are_ keeping the rest." Zelena shrugged.

"What rest?!"

Zelena shrugged again. "A couple of lights."

Robin rolled he eyes and shook her head. "Mum... You're something else. How are we supposed to get all this stuff back home? We'll have to make several trips back and forth at least."

"Well..." Alice held up a hand. "I could always get us all home."

There was a pause. Then: "That's my girl!" Robin beamed. "Why didn't do we that in the first place?"

Alice smiled at her but the smile dimmed when she saw Zelena chewing on the inside of her lip, suddenly looking very anxious about the idea. "I mean, we don't have to. We can just carry it like normal."

"Oh come on!" Robin protested.

"No, no you do your thing, Alice." Zelena said. "I don't want to use magic with Chad but it's not fair to stop others from using theirs. Just... Let me keep him busy so he doesn't accidentally come into it halfway. Okay?"

"Thanks, mum." Robin grinned, reaching over to hug her tightly once more. "You're the best!"

"Yeah, I know." Zelena said, her smile returning now as some tension left her shoulders. She turned quickly and hugged Alice too. "Come round sometime before Christmas, okay? We can have a big lunch, all four of us."

"Will do!"

With that, Zelena turned and hurried into Chad's study to keep him distracted while Alice turned to the rest of the boxes waiting for her. She rubbed her hands together and took a slow breath in and out. She wasn't very much used to random acts of magic these days. Alice had never been crazy about using it for every little thing despite Robin's encouragement. And when she did, her magic was mostly used for helping the gardens grow and taking care of the local animals that wandered by... All in all, she was just worried about being a little rusty in regards to transportation magic.

As if sensing her hesitation, Robin reached over and placed her hand over the top of Alice's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze and leaning close until Alice could feel her breath on the back of her neck. It was a pleasant feeling and gave Alice all the confidence she needed to go ahead with the spell.

Closing her hands into temporary fists, Alice forced herself to relax and focused on the warm magic she always felt rolling inside of her. She reached out her hands, unclenching her fists at the same time, and waved towards the multiple boxes lining the walls and filling the floor. Barely a moment later, the whole room was filled with a cloud of white smoke that had an soft yellow shine to parts of it. The smoke stretching out from one corner to the next and coating every box and package. It lasted for just a short second and faded just as quickly as it appeared, the smoke vanishing in a dramatic sweep of sudden wind and taking almost everything along with it.

"Uh, Alice?"

Breathing hard from nerves more than effort, Alice glanced up and saw Robin pointing to the now clear and spotless room. Alice looked around but it took her another minute of scanning the area before she finally realised that her magic seemed to have taken all the sofas and chairs along with the boxes.

"Woops." Alice blushed.

"Can you, uh, bring it back?" Robin said, barely managing to hold in her giggles. "I think Chad might notice that much furniture missing."

"Yeah, one second!" Alice said, quickly searching for the magic she had used and tracing it in her mind back to where everything was now waiting for them at home. It was an odd feeling, but despite not using her powers for this type of magic often, Alice found it easy none the less.

A few seconds later, everything had appeared once more in a similar swirl of white and gold smoke. Only it all may have been a little off centre and the girls quickly took some time to push everything around to where it had been originally, working off their memories as best as they could.

"Okay, that's as good as it gets. Let's go before Chad asks how we did it all so fast." Robin said, pulling Alice back to the door. "We're off, mum! Thanks again!"

"You sure you got everything?" Zelena's voice came from the upstairs hallway.

"Yup! Catch up later!" Robin said, stepping outside and pulling Alice behind her, letting the door slam shut on its own. She'd barely taken a step passed the porch and yet was already shivering once more. "Let's get home. Quickly!"

Alice pulled on her arm and stopped her from going any further. "How quickly do you want to?" Alice asked, grinning shyly.

Robin blinked before jumping to stand back beside her, sliding her arms around Alice's hips. "Do it!" She said excitedly.

"Shall I wiggle my nose first?" Alice teased.

"I dare ya!" Robin laughed.

A few playful seconds of inside jokes later, Alice had magicked the two of them back home where all the decorations were waiting for them... Even if it was waiting for them in a ridiculous mess from having fallen over everything else in its way upon arrival.

 **C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S**

"Okay, that's the last of it!" Alice said happily.

The two of them had spent the better part of their day, clearing up the mess Alice had accidentally made during her transportation, fixing everything back to how it should be and lining all their new decoration boxes up against the wall on the far side by the window. It still made everything look very untidy, but at least it was an organized untidy.

"So, you ready for lunch?" Robin asked, stretching her arms and pressing her hands against her spine until she heard a satisfying click.

"Yes!" Alice beamed. "We'll eat and then start decorating!"

Robin laughed as she stepped into the kitchen. "Not so fast, Tower Girl. We don't decorate until twelve days before Christmas. Then take it all down twelve days after."

"What? Why?" Alice frowned.

"It's a tradition." Robin shrugged, like that explained it all.

"Why?" Alice pressed.

Robin paused and glanced back over her shoulder at her. "Uh, well... I'm not really sure. But it just is! It's a tradition and we just kind of do it that way now."

Alice began pouting. It seemed pretty silly to her. Why wait so long to do a tradition that they couldn't even remember why they did it for? And they had so many lovely things to put up and admire for as long as possible so why bother putting it off?

But Robin knew more about Christmas than Alice did, and she hadn't steered her wrong yet. When it came down to it, Alice did trust Robin... She was just also very impatient.

Inside the kitchen, while Robin began to root around for something to make a lunch out of, Alice hovered by the doorway and looked longingly towards the boxes piled up, some still not quite closed to hide the beautiful things tucked away inside. She had been so excited when they had gotten the offer to go pick them up and now she couldn't do anything with any of it. It was like taking a kid shopping and letting them pick up their birthday present right there and then but refusing to let them actually play with it until their actual birthday in a couple weeks. It was needless torture!

"Damn, the breads no good." Robin sighed, standing and tossing the last two slices of molding bread into the bin. She looked back at Alice and grinned. "Fancy going out to eat today?"

"Hmm," Alice hummed. "Not especially. Why don't we have some popcorn instead? I'm sure we have a bag leftover somewhere."

"Yeah, but I fancy a proper sandwich." Robin said, already walking for the door where her coat hung on the wall at the side. "If you don't want to come, I can pick you up something from Granny's?"

"Marmalade sandwich!" Alice said immediately.

"Of course," Robin laughed, doing up the buttons and double checking she still had her purse and keys in the pockets. "I'll be back as quick as I can."

"Say hi to Granny and Ruby for me!" Alice said cheerfully.

Robin paused in the open doorway to groan loudly, remembering her last run in with the pair of diner owning werewolves. Even as half human, they reacted to the young female archer the way all animals seemed to; by being on edge and even growling if she happened to surprise them at the wrong time. She didn't go out of her way to avoid them and they didn't hate each other per say, but she certainly didn't cry when they happened to miss one another. Unfortunately, Granny's cooking was just too good to give up on so Robin was going to have to suck it up and see the half mutts every once in a while.

"I'll be back," Robin repeated, heading out and letting the door swing shut behind her.

Alice watched her go in silence before sighing and wandering back into the living room, stepping over to the boxes and peering over them and out the window to watch Robin walk onto the street. She let her hands drift over and rest on top of the closest box for support, waiting until Robin had completely vanished from sight before she looked down at them. There really was so much more than they were expecting. She and Robin hadn't thought they would have enough to fill the main room, but now it looked like they would have enough to do the whole first floor of the house. Alice felt giddy with the thoughts- the ideas of the house they could make, now they had the tools to do so. It would be the most magical thing and Alice wouldn't even need to use actual magic to make it happen!

Now she just needed to wait for the right time for it to happen, which apparently wouldn't be for another week! How anyone could honestly wait that long, Alice had no idea. And she still didn't see the point in it. It would take them so long to put them all up in the first place, and they'd only be around for a short time before they had to take them all back down again. It just seemed like such a waste. Like Halloween. Why bother having so many wonderful decorations up for a single night just to pack them away again for a whole year? Why couldn't they put them all up early and really celebrate the holiday all month long?

But there were a lot of things Alice didn't understand about normal life in Storybrooke yet, and she had long since accepted that. She was just going to have to wait and play by Robin's silly rules like she always did.

With another deep breath, Alice turned away from the decorations and glanced around the room. She and Robin were pretty good for keeping their home clean – Alice loved this building that she now shared with her love, so much that she wanted to take care of it and Robin seemed to pick up on that as well, doing what she could to help. But they weren't perfect and if they couldn't put the decorations up now, then Alice could at least get them ready for when they could.

So with that in mind, Alice drifted back into the hallway closest, collecting a series of sprays and polish as well as some old rags to have a big official clean up. She started by dusting all the shelves and counter tops, shuffling all the little things temporarily out of her way before placing them back again and moving on to the next. Once that was done, she pulled out the larger pieces of furniture and grabbed the vacuum, running it over all the carpets, floor boards and tiles of the entire house until it was as clean as she could possibly get it. Then she returned and cleaned down all the windows and doors and mirrors, just for something to do.

The whole process was meant to keep her busy until Robin came home, but there wasn't that much to clean in the first place. And on top of that, Alice was – accidentally – quite a fast working cleaning and once she got going, she sometimes lost herself in her work and finished much faster than other people might. Which meant she still had plenty of time to waste before Robin got back with their lunch... Might as well squeeze in a quick shower before eating.

As she turned away from the living room, Alice accidentally dropped one of the polish bottles on top of one of the boxes closest to the door. It only dented the lid slightly but it was enough for a shiny gold piece to peek through and catch Alice's attention. She left the polish bottle on the floor and instead, pulled back the lid on the box, exposing the decoration inside. It was a Santa doll ornament, but with a golden coat rather than a red one, positioned like he was sitting on something invisible and holding an odd French horn in his grip. And Alice had no idea if it was random or part of the many more secret traditions she had yet to learn.

Crouching beside the box, Alice placed the cleaning supplies in her arms on the floor and reached into the box, carefully pulling the golden Santa out and holding it in front of her. It was the most ridiculous thing she had ever seen, and yet Alice was indescribably amused by it all the same! Whether it was the bright colours or the cheerful smile on the old face, or the tiny detail such as the little round glasses he wore, Alice found herself grinning at the thing, wondering where it would sit the nicest in their house once they were ready to put it up.

Climbing back onto her feet, Alice wandered towards the windowsill, holding the golden Santa up by the edge to see how he'd look. She remembered Robin saying something about everything having a perfect place, and you just needed to take the time to find it. So Alice spent a few minutes at each location, wandering around the living room before she ended back in the hallway, setting the golden Santa on the shelf by the staircase where they normally kept trinkets from their travels.

There. That was the perfect place!

Alice paused, glancing back through the open doorway where she could see where the open box still sat. There really wasn't much point putting Gold Santa back now that he had a place on the shelf. He might as well stay where he was for now.

Turning back into the living room, Alice wandered over to pick up to cleaning supplies and close the box back up but stopped short just as she began to crouch down. Something else caught her eye. Only this time it was a flash of silver.

Without hesitating about it, Alice once again forgot the cleaning supplies and turned back to the box. Reaching into it once more, this time Alice pulled out a second Santa that was very similarly designed to the first one. She held it up in front of her like the last one, staring at it curiously and looking it up and down. It really was very similar to the Gold Santa now sitting on the hallway shelf, but instead of gold clothing, his was silver and he wasn't sitting down with a leg crossed, but rather standing upright on his two chubby legs. And the instrument that he held in his hands wasn't a small trumpet, but rather, quite a large old fashion accordion.

Once again, Alice was fascinated with how nonsensical it was!

"Well..." She mused quietly. "You look like you're a pair... And it wouldn't be fair to unpack one of you and not the other..."

She doubt Robin would mind if she unpacked just these two.

 **C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S**

Getting food from Granny's had taken much longer than Robin had originally thought. It didn't help that everyone she ran into wanted to stop for a chat, including her aunt Regina who was eager to find out what to get her niece for a present this year. By the time she reached the old diner, the lunch rush was at its busiest and Robin was forced to hang around for a stretch of time before Red could finally take her order. She did it with only a slight upturned nose and – to her credit – seemed to want to get Robin out of there as quickly as Robin wanted to leave, leading the young waitress to rush around to make the sandwiches. She even threw in a couple chocolate cookies for Alice, whom she ironically had a soft spot for. But even with Red's rush, it still took Robin far too long to get her food and get out. And then, as if the universe was having a laugh at her expense, she ended up running into Mulan and Dorothy, one of whom she deeply admired, and one of whom she wished she could shove into another cyclone. Mulan barely managed to pry the two of them apart as an argument built up and when Robin stalked away in a huff, she realised it had been a couple of hours since he had left Alice alone!

Doing her best to rush home without destroying the carefully wrapped sandwiches in the carrier bag hanging off her arm, Robin was no longer feeling the cold breeze as something irritating by the time she reached her street. Instead it was a comforting relief against her hot sweaty skin. As she closed the distance to her house, she paused on the corner road, checking the bag to make sure it really was all okay inside. It seemed only one of the cookies had broken in her haste, but Robin would happily have that one for herself. Otherwise it was all good.

With a deep slow breath to calm her racing heart rate down, Robin stood back up straight and continued home, slowing her pace to a steady walk now she was close. As fun as walks through Storybrooke were, Robin had officially had enough of them for today. She was looking forward to kicking her feet up for the rest of the day inside her warm home with her wife by her side. Maybe she and Alice could put on a couple Christmas-...

Robin's thoughts trailed off as she caught sight of the house.

Robin wasn't oddly caught between being a little annoyed and a little amused. But mostly she was just stunned. Because, yes, she had been gone for a couple of hours but there was no way what she was staring at was just a couple hours work. She had to have used magic. Or have gotten help from other people. Or something!

The front of the house had a layer of lights hanging down from the roof of multiple colours like a waterfall, as well as matching lights circling around the front door and bottom two windows. Robin squinted slightly and realised there was a familiar door chime that was hung on the wall where the bird feeder normally was (the bird feeder had been moved to a branch of a tree stretching over from one of the neighbouring houses) and it seemed that Alice had take the fake snow bottles and sprayed it along the edge of the house and over all the window sills. On top of that, the second floor windows had happy elf stickers showing through the glass and there were three plastic reindeer ornaments lining the roof with a child sized Santa holding onto the chimney in front of them. And then there was the front garden, which had a pair of miniature Christmas trees beside the path with leafs that slowly turned every colour other than their natural green – okay, that definitely had some kind of magic involved.

Robin slowly drift through onto the front garden and glanced around to find a series of plastic woodland creatures in winter clothing waiting for her. Zelena used to line them along the staircase, but now they were lining either side of the front path leading to the front door instead. They were directed to face towards the front door as well, as if guiding visitors inside, and each of them had an additional star sticker placed on one of their cheeks. Without a doubt, it was one of the simplest, yet cutest things Robin had ever seen.

"Robin!"

She looked up sharply, just in time to see Alice scrambling out from behind one of the reindeer, leaning over the edge of the roof and panting heavily. She sounded completely tired, but looked as fresh as ever and didn't hesitate to swing her body round and jump off the roof. Robin felt a single flash of panic, which proved to be needless as Alice floated gently down to the ground like a feather, coming to a peaceful stop in front of her.

"I..." She paused, glancing around towards the constant colour changing trees. "I kind of... Got a head start on the decorating."

"I can see that." Robin nodded, feeling her lips twitching and fighting the urge to smile. Guess being amused outweighed her slight annoyance at missing the chance to help her. "Is it just the outside or is there a Wonderland inside as well?" Alice raised an eyebrow at the Wonderland expression – there were only so many of them she could let slide. "Sorry."

Alice brushed it off and put her hands guiltily behind her back. "I may have... Touched up a bit while you were gone."

"I figured." Robin snorted. "Come on. Let's see just how much you got up to."

"You're not upset?" Alice asked nervously, leading Robin inside but watching her face closely for sign of irritation.

Before she could answer, Robin stepped inside the house and was floored and not just by the warmth hitting her dead on.

Robin was sure they hadn't had this many decorations at her old house when they picked them up and was genuinely confused as to where some of it had come from. Almost every shelf had a different snow covered building or snowman or Santa sitting atop if, and there was tinsel in greens, purples and blues lining the rail of the stairs and draped around almost every doorway. The one thing Robin did recognise was the animatronic snowmen, Santa's and reindeer – all wearing skies – set up in the hallway and ready to be switched on just as soon as they were given some fresh batteries. Each of them was a different outer design but once they were up and running, they would immediately sing their matching recorded Christmas songs.

When they wandered into the living room, Robin saw a series of familiar snow globes lining over the top of the fireplace. All of them were depicting a famous place from the Enchanted Forest – presents that her aunt had given her Robin and her mother over the years. There were also half a dozen pictures that had been taken down and replaced with art works of various make Christmas scenes, and ceiling decorations had been hung with obvious care and attention. There were some that dangled in streams, others that were shaped like snowflakes, and some that were twisted into cute little curls of randomness, each of them coming in every colour from purple, blue, green, gold, silver, red and white.

In the end, it seemed that only three boxes had been left unpacked. Instead they had been pushed into a corner that looked oddly bare compared to the rest of the room. It didn't take Robin much time to guess that they were for the Christmas tree they didn't yet have. Otherwise everything else they had gotten from Zelena (and so many things that Robin still didn't recognise) was unpacked and set up perfectly in place.

"This is... Amazing!" Robin laughed, turning slowly. "Where did you even get half this stuff? It can't all be from mum's house."

"Well, I did get a little into it and I found some stuff that looked cute but could have been nicer if it had been in a different position or a different colour. But I didn't want to alter any of your stuff so I just used some magic to transfer some things we already owned into them instead." Alice explained. "It saves us packing it out of the way and we can turn it all back once the holiday's over and done with."

"That's awesome!" Robin gasped, dropping the food carelessly on the nearest chair. "So like, the front trees?"

"Yeah they were fun to make." Alice grinned.

"This is really something, Alice." Robin breathed, still turning to take it all in. "How did you even manage it all on your own? Magic again?"

"I may have used a little magic to speed up the process." Alice continued. "I got kind of excited about the whole thing and couldn't wait to get it done."

"Just a little?" Robin laughed, pulling Alice into her arms and kissing her. When she pulled back, they kept their arms firmly around one another, leaning into each other for support and grinning stupidly. "Guess we need to think about getting a tree then, huh?"

"Oh, I've already spoken to Henry about that. He said he knows someone and Lucy's gonna show me where to find one tomorrow." Alice said cheerfully.

Robin blinked in surprise and let out another laugh. "Alice, I freaking love you!"


	3. Christmas Tree

"Alice! Lucy's here." Robin said, leading the younger girl into the kitchen where Alice was just finishing the last of the mornings washing up.

"Oh! Perfect!" Alice quickly grabbed the nearest tea towel and dried her hands.

"You're house looks amazing!" Lucy gasped, looking up over the decorations lining up against the wall leading through the hallway and into the kitchen. "We haven't even started unpacking ours yet."

"Yeah, Alice got a little ahead of everyone else." Robin smirked, walking over and grabbing Alice's coat off the back of one of the table chairs on her way. She handed it to her, kissing Alice's cheek softly.

Alice paused short of grabbing her bag from the counter, glancing back at her wife. "You sure you're okay with us going ahead without you?"

"Of course. You've already gone this far." Robin grinned, waving at the room where little bells were hung over the kitchen windows. "Might as well finish it off. And I trust you to do as good a job with the tree as you have with the rest of the house while I kick back and relax." Alice still looked hesitant. Robin reached over, rubbing her arms and smiling. "I mean it. Plus, I haven't had a chance to have a proper evening with Leah in a while so this will be a nice chance to catch up for us."

"If you're sure." Alice repeated, then leaned over and kissed her softly. "Won't be too long."

"Have fun!" Robin called. She followed them through the hallway and stood in the open door to watch the pair heading out.

"You didn't want to have a drink or anything before we went, did you?" Alice asked, just after Robin shut the door behind them.

"No, that's okay. I'm good." Lucy grinned, bouncing a little on the spot. "So let's go!"

Alice giggled, watching Lucy skip slightly ahead of her, in between the animal ornaments and down onto the open streets. It really was lucky to have Henry call the other day. Alice didn't know where to begin looking for a real Christmas tree and while she was able to turn two of their garden bushes into colour changing trees for the front decorations, they were both quite small and couldn't really be called actual trees. Robin probably would have figured something out for them, but Alice would be lying if said she wasn't enjoying being in charge of everything this year.

"Alice?"

"Coming." Alice said, quickly snapping out of her thoughts and following her out through the front gates. "Sorry about that."

"It's cool." Lucy nodded. "So, are you ready to get your perfect tree?"

"Yup!" Alice grinned, looking down at the smaller girl – wouldn't be long before Lucy would be almost eye level with the way she was growing the past year. "You guys already have yours?"

"Yeah, dad grabbed one yesterday just before he called you." Lucy shrugged. "He's really into it."

"Aren't you?" Alice blinked.

"Oh yeah, sure. But just not as much as dad." Lucy said with an amused eye roll.

Alice did a small double take, staring down at Lucy curiously for a moment as they made their way towards the edge of town. "You guys must have had the chance to celebrate Christmas a bit back in the Enchanted Forest, though, right? What with Henry being from here originally."

"Well, sort of. We kind of celebrated a little but nothing like this." She waved towards some of the houses who had seemingly copied Alice and gotten their outside decorations set up early.

"How did you celebrate then?"

"We had a big fancy dinner with Tiana and everyone all gave one other person a homemade present." Lucy explained. "The year before the curse, I gave Tiana a flower crown."

"That sounds nice." Alice smiled sadly. "I wish I could have visited you guys more."

"Why didn't you?" Lucy asked.

Alice paused, thinking the question over carefully before answering. "Papa didn't have very many friends left after I was born. He gave up his ship and his crew along with it and spent his whole life looking after me back in my tower. If I went to the castle then papa wouldn't be able to, because of the curse on his heart, so it didn't really seem fair, especially since he was much closer to everyone there than I was. And I still had Rumplestiltskin and Robin to keep me company anyway, but he didn't have anyone else."

"I'm sorry you had to be separated for so long." Lucy said quietly, then added brightly; "It must be nice being together again!"

"It is." Alice beamed, immediately her earlier sadness fading away.

They kept walking passed the last few houses set up in this area while Alice began to happily describe the things she planned to do with her papa on their first Christmas together here in Storybrooke – after she had spent some quality Christmas time with Robin first, of course. And Lucy responded by describing what her Christmas was going to be like. It was going to be a lot busier than Alice's. The morning was going to be with her parents, and lunch was going to spent going with Emma's family to the Nolan farm, and finally, then a calm dinner spent with Regina before retiring home again.

"Won't you be tired?" Alice blinked, thinking to what Robin said about her favourite Christmas being a nice easy-going and relaxing one where you didn't really have to do much all day.

"Probably!" Lucy grinned. "I can't wait!"

Before Alice could say anything else, they had reached a large fenced off area with a dozen brightly coloured Christmas trees wrapped around the fences gaps, flashing brightly and attracting any attention the large sign overheard missed. Inside the gated area was over a dozen trees, all bright green and waiting crowded into the small space just a little way away from the rest of the town's houses. Otherwise there wasn't much else to it, but Alice could feel a genuine joy coming from the simplicity of it that made her instantly smile as they approached the front entrance.

There were a couple people that could be seen wandering in between the trees, examining the barks and leafs with fine details and talking deeply about each of them like it was a life of death decision they could only make once. And they barely paused to talk to anyone that hadn't arrived with them, though they certainly weren't unfriendly about it. There were a couple large families grouped together, but more than that, there were a lot of fathers out only with their kids. Most of the kids were young, and they were running around without control while their dads struggled to keep an eye on them while they also searched for their own perfect tree.

"Have you ever gotten a Christmas tree before?" Alice asked as they stepped through the gates and into the first set of trees.

"No." Lucy said, looking around slowly. "Mum never saw the point of cutting a tree down just for a day."

"And now she does?"

"Dad wore her down." Lucy grinned.

"Can I help you young ladies?"

They had just started down the first line when they heard the voice, drawing them to a stop. The girls turned around to find an older man stepping from in between the nearby trees, making his way forward and light brushing himself down. It wasn't someone either of them recognised. But he had a bright and friendly face and Alice wondered if he hadn't intentionally grown a grey shaded beard in order to go with the overall theme of the season. He was tightly wrapped in winter clothes and was quite large, making Alice wonder how he had squeezed in between the trees so easily without them noticing.

"We're fine." Alice said, repeating what Robin always said whenever they went shopping and were offered assistance. "Just looking."

"No problem, just come find me when you're ready to buy something or if you need any help at all." The man said, nodding his head and turning to a pair of newcomers who looked completely lost the second they stepped through the gates.

"So," Lucy said. "Dad always said the most important parts of finding a tree, are looking at the shape, size and colour."

"They all look the same to me..." Alice mumbled, glancing around and pulling a face.

"Yeah, me too..." Lucy admitted before shrugging. "Guess that means they're all good?"

Alice wandered towards the trees nearer the back and paused in front of them, reaching and feeling the rough leaf stretching towards her, taking it between her fingers gently. They were all very nice, brightly green and tall and healthy, just like she imagined... And yet something just wasn't right about any of them. It was like they looked the part, smelled the part and physically felt the part... But there was a second feeling that was getting in the way and telling Alice that they still weren't what she was looking for. A spiritual feeling. Like Alice could see the trees aura and sense that it wasn't the right tree after all.

"Found one?" Lucy asked, stepping up beside her.

Alice sighed. "No. None of these."

Lucy paused, looking up at the trees and frowning. "What's wrong with them?"

"They're just not right." Alice explained, waving her hand helplessly before moving along the line and tracing her hand gently over their branches as she went.

Lucy trailed along behind her, watching as Alice took her time examine all the trees she passed with a gentle touch. They continued to all look the same to her, so she couldn't understand what it was Alice was looking for. When her dad had picked up their tree, he'd barely looked past the front view he had of it before paying the seller and dragging it onto the back of Granddad David's truck to get home as soon as possible. So Alice taking her time was not only weird... It was also kind of boring.

"Any luck?" Lucy pressed as they turned a corner and started down a new line of trees, once again all looking exactly the same as their neighbours.

"Not yet."

Lucy huffed and slouched slight, stalking after her. She'd been the one to volunteer herself to help Alice find her perfect tree but she hadn't expected it to take so long when she did. What was Alice even looking for?

"How about this one?" Lucy asked, stepping up to one of the largest trees near the front.

"No... Not that one." Alice mumbled, walking passed her.

"One of these?" Lucy said, dancing around her and waving at three perfect clone-like trees standing side by side each other.

"No..."

Lucy let out a long breath from between her teeth, letting Alice drift passed before rolling her eyes. This was getting really dumb. What exactly was it Alice would hoping would happen? One of the trees would step out and start dancing in front of her, begging to be picked?

"Alice. Maybe you should just, magic your own tree? Like the ones in your garden." Lucy suggested, trailing after her.

"It wouldn't be right." Alice explained. "Those are just little decorations I made out of a couple of bushes. I need a real proper Christmas tree for our first year together."

Lucy rolled her eyes again, this time being caught by Alice and flushing guiltily in response. Luckily Alice noticed, but didn't mind. It wasn't the first time someone had given her that kind of look or thought her odd for the way she did things. That didn't change anything for her. They were here for her and she was going to take as much time as she needed in order to find her perfect tree. She had her reasons for dragging it out. It was around here somewhere, she could practically sense it, but it was being confused with all the similar trees around it and Alice just needed to take some time to track it down.

"Alice... Do you think maybe we should try somewhere else?" Lucy asked after they had wandered around in a complete circle. "Maybe you should check the woods and see if there are any that haven't been uprooted or cut down yet that you like?"

"Maybe..." Alice sighed, finally coming to a stop. She still had a strong sense pulling at her, but she couldn't seem to find where it was coming from. She was beginning to think that maybe it was actually just her imagination was getting the best of her. Alice had let herself get a little carried away in her excitement so it wasn't quite so farfetched to say it was all in her head.

"Want to go round once more?" Lucy sighed.

Alice nodded, eagerly walking ahead and once again reaching out a hand to stroke over the remaining trees. If anyone ever got in her way, she calmly stepped to the side and waiting for them to pass before moving back to her place and resuming her quick pace around the gated area. Lucy followed behind, feeling more and more like this quick favour was turning into an irritating chore. She was seconds away from pulling out her phone and calling her mother for an excuse to leave, when suddenly Alice came to a stop in the furthest corner from the entrance, staring at a pair of trees pressed closely together side by side.

"Found something?" Lucy asked, moving up beside her.

"I think so..." Alice mumbled, reaching and touching the trees but even they didn't feel right. Yet there was something here...

"Alice?"

Alice ignored her, pushing one of the tree branches aside when she thought she had caught sight of something hidden in the back behind them. When she realized there was definitely something there, Alice didn't hesitate, grabbing the two trees and moving them out the way to reveal the one behind them.

It was skinnier than all the other trees and a lot of its leafy branches had touches of brown along the tips that grow more obvious and visible the closer you came to the top. There were also a dozen patches along the bottom of the tree that were bare and broken like someone had stolen stretches of it and snapped off the rest. It was a little sad looking and Alice was momentarily distracted by its appearance before she felt the very thing she had been searching for, that sense she had been following… It had led her to _this_ tree.

"Ugh," Lucy said, pulling a face and wrinkled her nose like she could smell something foul. "That one looks half dead."

"Looks are misleading." Alice said softly, crossing her arms and smiling at it. "This is our tree."

"Wait, seriously?" Lucy blinked. "But... It's ugly."

"No, it's perfect." Alice said, turning and waving down the man from earlier, waiting for him to approach before happily waving back to the tree. "I'd like this one, please."

The man did a quick double take, opening his mouth like he was going to question her, then thought better about talking client out of a sale, especially over one he would never be able to sell otherwise. Instead he forced a smile and politely asked for half the price of the other trees, accepting Alice's money and asking if she needed help getting it home.

"No, thank you. We can manage." Alice beamed, watching the guy wander off, shaking his head as soon as his back was turned to her.

"So..." Lucy raised an eyebrow. "How are we getting this all the way back to yours? Should I call my dad?" She couldn't help but worry it would collapse into dust before they were even halfway but chose to keep that thought to herself for now.

"I got it." Alice said, taking a breath and flicking her hands out in front of her. She shut her eyes just as the smoke gathered around the three of them. Once it had cleared a moment later, they found themselves back in Alice's home, standing in the middle of the living room with the tree already settled in its chosen corner.

Lucy glanced around in surprise before looking up at Alice and smiling. "I love magic." She grinned.

 **C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S**

When Robin came home, early that evening, Lucy had already headed off back home. She had stayed a few extra hours to accept some biscuits and sweets Alice offered in payment for her help, but had declined Alice's other offer to help decorate the tree. Lucy loved putting the decorations on the tree, but she was still secretly afraid that if she so much as lightly touched the tree then the brittle bark would fall apart at her feet and the last thing she wanted was to have that on her conscious and feel at blame for ruining Alice and Robin's Christmas. She still didn't quite understand what Alice saw in it, or why she thought the fading old tree was something special when it really looked more like compost than a real Christmas tree. But Alice seemed to really believe in it, so Lucy kept her mouth shut, ate her reward, gave her a hug goodbye and head off for home, looking forward to telling her mum about what happened. Maybe she or her dad could explain Alice's weird decision.

So when Robin stepped inside the house, she paused to dust her feet off on the mat and shivered against the cold breeze chasing after her. She eagerly slipped into the living room to escape it and searched for the warm fire to heat her goose pimpled skin. She barely noticed the last of the boxes had finally been cleared out and didn't even glance in the corner as she dropped down by the fire, holding her hands up and breathing a sigh of relief. She loved this time of year, but she hated the cold weather so damn much. But then, she also hated the hot weather.

Summer was too hot and winter was too damn cold. Yeah, Robin was definitely more of an autumn person.

"You're back!" Alice said, stepping into the room and grinning. "Have you seen the tree?"

"Oh, right," Robin stood, rubbing her hands together and turning with a big smile. Only for it to drop again as soon as she could sight of it.

Unlike everything else in and outside of the house, Alice seemed to have decided to do a minimal job on the tree. It had a very thin line of tinsel and only golden bobbles hanging from a select number of the tree's strongest branches, with a bright white and silver angel balanced at the very top, along with fake snow and tinsel flakes lying around its base. It was all nicely done but the lack of decorations made the tree itself stand out more, which would have been well enough if not for the fact that the tree wasn't the fluffy and bright green that Robin had been expecting Alice to get. Instead it was a rusty brown in some places and broken and bare in others. And even though Alice had clearly done her best to cover those parts with the choice decorations she had used, it was impossible to hide them all.

"What do you think?" Alice asked, moving to stand behind Robin, sliding her arms around her waist and resting her chin on her shoulder.

"Nice." Robin said quickly, glancing slowly up and down at it. "Were there... Not many left?"

Alice shrugged against her. "No, not really. There were plenty of others but this one kind of called to me. Like I could sense something in it."

Robin struggled to find the right words. "Um... Sensed something? Like what exactly?"

"I don't really know." Alice said, letting go to stand beside her and still smiling proudly. "I think it might be something to do with my magic. But I can just tell there's something about this tree. The others were all fine and they'd get good homes, sure. But this one has something that made it stand out. Something that deserved to be taken in."

"Oh. Cool." Robin nodded.

"You don't get it, do you?" Alice asked.

"Not really." Robin admitted. "I mean... Could you use your magic to make the tree healthier, maybe?" Alice hesitated, opening her mouth nervously. "You don't want to?"

"It's just. It's not unhealthy, Robin. It's just older than the other trees." Alice explained. "I don't see why it needs to be changed. The brown shows its years and the missing parts are like its scars. They show it's been through a lot but it's still standing, tall and beautiful as ever." Her voice took on a prideful burst and she beamed up at it again.

 _But it's so ugly!_ Robin internally screamed, then shook her head. What did that even mean? Who cares if it wasn't the prettiest tree? Alice was right, it was experienced and there was nothing wrong with that. And could Robin really complain about the tree she got when Alice had put so much thought and effort, not just into them, but the whole house? No one in town had worked harder than her, and she hadn't asked for anything in return. There was no way Robin could demand she get rid of the tree after all that. "I like it." Robin lied, smiling and sliding an arm around Alice. "You picked a great tree, love."

 _Liar._ Alice thought, but smiled back and kissed the side of Robin's mouth. It was okay. Whether or not Robin could understand her, Alice stood by her decision, still very sure from the good feeling she got from it.


	4. Shopping

**So I apologise. Saying I'd post one chapter a day was probably not the smartest thing I've said since I have to deal with work and my own Christmas preparations. In fact I almost separated this chapter into several to make up for it but I have all the other chapters all planned out already and don't want to give any of them up. So I'm just gonna post when I can - some might be posted a couple in one day and it'll definitely go over the 25th but hey, it just means I'm making Christmas last longer!**  
 **If things really get messed up, I will finish it over New Years but it will be in between my other stories which I will be started up again as promised. So Thanks to everyone for clinging on and I apologise for the false hope XD**

* * *

"So what kind of presents do you normally get your parents?" Alice asked suddenly, scrunching her napkin into a ball and dropping it onto her plate.

The question seemed to have come out of nowhere and the pair sitting opposite her looked up. They were momentarily confused as to why she was asking them of all people before remembering that Alice hardly had the most normal of upbringings, nor that many people she was comfortable talking to with. And on top of that, she didn't exactly have a normal parent in all the realms either… But then, thinking about it, neither did any of them. Maybe that was why she was asking them the question.

"You don't mind me asking, do you?" Alice asked, very conscious of the hesitation.

"Of course not." Ella said quickly. "I mean, I don't really know what I would have gotten my parents, but Lucy got me a few things over the years. Though I doubt that's what you're looking for." She smiled knowingly. "Thinking of a gift for your father?"

"Yeah," Alice admitted.

Ella glanced at Henry who frowned as he thought it over. "Well, it's Rogers so... Well, there's a whole load of stuff you could get him, to be honest."

"Yeah but... Nothing I've seen seems right." Alice mumbled, looking down at her plate. Robin and her mother had already listed an endless number of things she knew her papa would like well enough, but despite that, Alice still knew none of it was good enough. It was their first Christmas, ever! She wanted to make sure she did it right for both of them.

"Lucy once told me she always knew the perfect gift for everyone, but only when she saw it." Ella offered. "So maybe you just haven't seen the right thing yet?"

"But what if I don't see it in time?" Alice asked.

"I'm sure you will." Ella said softly.

Henry suddenly clicked his fingers, grinning at the two of them. "Here's an idea. Why don't you and the other girls have a big shopping day out of town together? You can all help each other with buying gifts and you might have better luck if you go somewhere outside your comfort zone."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Ella gasped excitedly. "I don't think many of us have had a chance to leave since the Realms were united. What do you say, Alice?"

"Yeah, that'd be good." Alice nodded, feeling incredibly relieved to be offered any kind of help. She'd been thinking about presents for her papa and Robin ever since she Robin mentioned her aunt asking about what she wanted a couple days ago. While there were a number of things she would have loved to get them both, she was limited by both money and what was actually available to her. Storybrooke and the United Realms were all lovely, but even they were limited, especially as they didn't have any proper shopping centers like Alice remembered from back in Hyperion Heights during the curse.

"It's settled! I'll call Tiana and Regina." Ella said, already reaching into her purse for her phone.

"Hey, maybe Snow and Emma would like to join too?" Henry offered.

"Perfect! It'll be a full day with everyone together!"

 **C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S**

"How... The hell… Did we lose... Everyone?!" Robin shouted, looking around the crowded mall where there were no familiar faces with her, apart from that of Alice standing by her side.

 **C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S**

Earlier, With Lucy and Ella:

"It's a shame Tiana couldn't come." Lucy noted sadly.

"Yeah, but being a Co-Queen of the realms as well as running a food truck can keep you pretty busy." Ella nodded, only half joking.

The two of them were trailing behind the rest of the small group, with only a few small select bags between them. Unlike Emma and Hope, who were both weighed down with a ridiculous amount of shopping on either arm, neither Ella, nor Lucy were very big on spending money, even as gifts for their loved ones. Much like back in the Enchanted Forest, they had gotten one thing for each person they shopped for, and none of it was too expensive because there didn't seem much point in throwing money away needlessly.

So far it had been a good day for everyone. They had all managed at least a bit of shopping done and in between that, they had spared time for a fast food meal with good laughs all around, even after Zelena nearly got into a fist brawl with a stubborn woman who had tried to take her chair while she was momentarily in the bathroom. Regina attempted to play peacemaker along with Emma to defuse the situation, but after the woman physically spat on Regina's silk blouse, Emma surprised everyone by cutting things short with a fist to the woman's face. It had been a good blow – Ella was particularly impressed by her mother in law – but good blow or not, it didn't stop them from being asked to leave the restaurant.

"Still… I miss spending time with her." Lucy said sadly, sighing and looking down at her feet. "We used to see so much of her back in the Enchanted Forest, and she was the only Queen back then. Now we're lucky to catch up once every couple of weeks."

"I know, sweetie," Ella said, reaching around to rest an arm on her shoulders.

Lucy slouched slightly, leaning against her mother for support. She didn't want to let anything ruin their good day, and tried to force a smile back on her face but it looked as fake as it felt and she knew her mother could see right through her. Lucy had long since accepted that changes were a part of life, but she still hated people drifting apart. Especially when they were her friends she was drifting apart from.

For her part, Ella knew what Lucy was feeling. She sometimes missed having Sabine as a roommate and she even more missed every day meet ups with the Queen, inviting her round to their home or spending a night or two at her castle for celebrations like Lucy's birthday. But things had changed. Not only was she Queen of an unstable new Realm, but she was also struggling to keep The Rollin Bayou going as well – especially with places like Granny's now her biggest competition. Sometimes Ella regretted leaving her work there, especially since she had been the co-founded it. But after reuniting with Henry and Lucy, Ella had decided it was time to follow her own dreams for a change and working in a food van just wasn't one of them.

But more than her own sadness over losing the closeness she used to have with her old friend, Ella was worried about Lucy's disappointment over it. Her poor baby no doubt missed her godmother greatly. And while Ella was already planning to invite Tiana round to their home for New Year's, she knew that would do little to cheer Lucy up right now. And Ella didn't want her daughter to spend the long ride home in misery.

They passed a nearby store and the sight of it gave Ella a sudden idea. It was probably dumb, but hey, being silly was always the best kind of fun and she was sure it would cheer Lucy up.

"Hey! Guys! We'll be right back!" Ella called, not pausing to see if they heard her – which they did not – before grabbing Lucy's arm and dragging her towards the same store.

"Where are we going?" Lucy blinked, letting herself be pulled along.

"In here." Ella said, pulling Lucy through the entrance.

It turned out to be a shoe store. One that was practically deserted, except for a single young woman being assisted by one of two employees while the other stood by the counter, looking incredibly bored. The same employee seemed to grow bored of hanging around and moved to begin sorting through the men's shelf just as they entered the store. When she caught sight of them from the corner of her eye, she quickly replaced her bored expression with a friendly smile instead, though it was one that still looked more sleepy than anything else. Ella gave an acknowledging half hearted wave before steering away from her and taking Lucy towards the women's section in the far corner.

"Why here?" Lucy asked, following her mother to a stop, far away from the other people in the room.

"Because, we need to see if it fits!" Ella said dramatically, dropping her bags to the floor and picking up a white sandal with a short heel in Lucy's size.

Lucy blinked before realizing where her mother was going with it. She burst out laughing at the sheer idea, drawing attention from the employee and customer across the room, but ignored them both as she quickly dropped onto a nearby stool. Kicking off her trainer, she let her mother dramatically try and squeeze the shoe on, purposely twisting it left and right so it appeared to be a struggle.

"Hmm," Ella mused. "Guess this means you're not Cinderella then."

"Well what about you?" Lucy jumped forward, taking the shoe and swapping places so she was kneeling in front of her mother. Naturally the shoe was far too small for her mother's feet, but Lucy made a big play of pretending to try and put it on, then stood back and sighed dramatically. "Guess that means you're not Cinderella either. You must be a step sister."

"I don't think so!" Ella laughed. "You must have the wrong slipper."

"How many glass slippers are lying around?" Lucy challenged, all thoughts of Tiana wiped from her mind as she and her mother tried on several different shoes, pretending each was the glass slipper and purposely making sure none of them would fit.

"Um…" Came a voice. "Can I help you ladies find a pair in your size?"

Ella and Lucy, who were laughing too hard to notice her approach, looked up to find an employee standing over them. She eyed the mess of shoes the two of them had made and there was a definite distain in the way she was glancing back at them.

"Uh…" Ella said, fighting her giggles. "Yeah, sorry. We've changed our minds." Lucy quickly gathered the shoes, putting them back on the racks and shelves, albeit in a slight mess and out of order, some a few spaces apart from their pairs.

Once everything was at least off of the floor, they hurried from the store before they could be scolded any further, still giggling about it as they did. And with both their moods back up, they happily moved to rejoin their friends…

Only to find they were nowhere to be seen.

"Where'd they all go?" Lucy blinked, looking around. "I thought they were going to wait for us."

"Oh great." Ella mumbled.

"What happened?" Lucy asked, still looking at the crowds buzzing past.

"They must have wandered off without us. I thought they heard me…" Ella said, biting the inside corner of her mouth.

"So what do we do?" Lucy asked. "We can't get home without them!"

Ella paused to think it over, glancing down towards her purse before shrugging. "Not much else to it about it. We'll wander round and try and find them but if not then we'll just call a taxi for a ride home. It can drop us off just a little away from the border and we can walk the rest of the way."

"What if the driver asks why we want to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere?" Lucy asked.

Ella shrugged. "I'm sure we can act a convincing lie. So what do you think; camping close by or cabin home in the middle of nowhere?"

 ***C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S***

At The Same Time With Emma and Hope…

Leading the group across the crowded floor, Hope and Emma were showing just the slightest struggle at holding onto all the bags in their arms. They were both pressed down on with the multi coloured plastic bags that were beginning to leave red marks along their skin where the weight of it all was close to bruising. But despite the heaviness of it all and the weariness that kept trying to get to them, neither woman let that slow them down. The shops in Storybrooke only had so much for them, so when Henry had suggested they rent the mini bus and drive to the next town over to do their shopping in a proper full out centre, the two of them jumped at the chance.

"How much time do we have left?" Hope asked, while still craning her neck in order to look at the stores lining up along their sides, watching out for anything they may have missed during their original walk through.

"Well we should probably think about heading back soon, so think of any places you want to go and we'll head there quick while we have the chance." Emma explained, walking a little faster to keep up with Hope's enthusiastic pace.

"Well, let's go to the second floor then!" Hope said, breaking into a fast walk that was a small step away from being a light jog. "I think I remember a cute little beauty parlor we never went in close by."

"A beauty parlor, huh?" Emma teased, still moving to keep up. "Since when have you been so conscious about that kind of stuff?"

Hope blushed slightly and shrugged, stepping onto the escalator before finally coming to a short pause. "I dunno. Just felt like a change."

"Oh sure," Emma grinned, standing a step behind her. "Nothing to do with a cute boy coming through town sometime this month?"

"Mum!" Hope complained, blushing even harder and hurrying off the escalator and onto the second floor.

Emma laughed as she followed her, knowing very well what boy Hope had in mind. She'd been crushing on him ever since they had met at the beginning of last year and while he didn't officially live in the United Realms, he had family there which meant he visited often enough. Killian didn't know about Hope's crush yet, and neither were very eager to tell him. Emma was pretty sure he'd try a 'papa bear' act and had already planned out the ways she would shut him down before he got started.

Inside the store, Hope buzzed up and down the walls, glancing in at all the items on sale. She'd never been overly into these kinds of things, even while all her friends started to midway through school. Hope was much more interested in perfecting her swords skills. The closest she ever came to caring about her looks was her hair. Out of everything, Hope's long dark blonde/light brown hair was her proudest feature and she took care of it better than anything else she knew. A couple kids had tried teasing her about it, but her short temper mixed with her swordsmanship abilities meant the teasing didn't last for very long.

But as Emma had already guessed, that was something that had changed drastically after Hope met with a certain young man. She didn't think she'd ever find someone she'd like after her nasty break up with Melody a while back, but that had most definitely changed. Now Hope wondered why she was ever even thinking of the possibility of never moving on… Not that she'd managed to have a proper conversation with him yet. Each time he visited, half the town surrounded him and Hope wasn't about to make a fool of herself with an audience watching.

"Find anything you like?" Emma asked, tucking her phone back into her bag. She'd texted Killian to see how his 'guys evening' was going with Henry, Rogers and David and was amused to hear that Snow and Red had accidentally crashed the party.

"This!" Hope said excitedly, pointing towards a whole make up kit. It was a head sized box, black with purple lining, and the picture posted above showed it held everything one woman might need. And maybe a little extra… Or rather, a lot extra… And at a steep price too…

Emma pressed her lips together and watched Hope's eager, wide eyed expression as she looked back at her. She was so excited, normally something she only got whenever she learned a new technique from one of her many teachers back in Storybrooke. And like all other times, Emma found it near impossible to actually say no to her. From the moment she had been born, everyone – including Emma herself – knew that she would always be wrapped around her baby girl's little finger. Not that Killian was any better, at least.

"Sure. Go for it. Think of it as an early Christmas present!" Emma said, adding the last part to make herself feel better more than anything.

"Thanks, mum! You're the best!" Hope beamed, rushing to grab a box from beside the display and taking it straight to the cashier.

The makeup box used the last of Emma's money. She double checked but there was nothing but a couple pennies left. Guess that really was the sign that it was time to end the day then. At least they'd managed to get most of their present shopping done with, and the rest could easily be done back in Storybrooke.

"Okay, come on, time to call it a day." Emma said, leading Hope back outside, their bags rustling and bouncing as they walked.

"Can we grab something to eat before we go?" Hope asked. "Like Chinese takeout or something?"

"We just had lunch." Emma snorted, walking without pause or thought.

"But I'm still hungry." Hope moaned, stomping her feet slightly in the start of a tantrum.

"Come on, Hope. I don't have any money left for food." Emma sighed. "What if I text your dad so he has something ready as soon as we walk through the door?"

"Yeah, I guess that'd be okay." Hope sighed, the paused and glanced over her shoulder. "Uh… Mum… Where are the others?"

Emma looked around and froze. "Oh shiiii-uger."

"Shit." Hope said for her.

"Language." Emma scolded, but didn't sound angry as she pulled out her phone and tried calling Regina. She held the phone to her ear and waited only for the ringing to cut short. She must have her phone off… Emma tried calling Ella and Alice, but neither answered their phones either. She tried twice more when suddenly her phone began to flash red in the corner, warning her about the low battery. Emma bit back a curse. Maybe she shouldn't have texted Killian so much throughout the day.

"Anything?" Hope pressed, putting her bags down at her feet when they grew too heavy to hold.

"No…" Emma mumbled, sighing and glancing around at the crowds. "My phones gonna die soon."

"So what do we do? My feet hurt. I don't want to have wander around anymore, mum." Hope complained, wincing and rubbing at the aching along her arms.

Emma hummed before sending one last text to Regina, Ella and Alice. "I'll tell the others we headed home ahead of them." She stopped short of hitting send. "Oh… We can't. We don't have a ride. Robin's got the keys to the mini bus."

"Can't you break into it?" Hope asked, thinking back to the stories she'd always been told of her mother's life before Storybrooke.

"Well yeah but then everyone else would be stuck." Emma groaned, putting her own bags down. They really were getting too heavy to hold.

And now Hope was getting too tired to keep standing around and began moaning loudly. "Then call a taxi."

"Hope, we don't have any money. And even if we did, we can't get a normal taxi to drop us off all the way back home." Emma groaned. "Maybe I can call- Shit!" She said, forgetting about her language rule and swearing aloud as her phone officially died. "And now we can't even call your dad for a ride."

"So what are we going to do?" Hope asked, feeling a rise of panic.

Emma breathed deeply and reached down, picking her bags back up. "Guess we walk it."

"Walk?! The whole way?! It'll take ages to get back home!" Hope shouted, drawing nearby attention.

A quick glare from Emma sent them back walking before she turned back to her daughter, trying to keep the frustration from her tone. "Hope. It won't be that long. And we don't have any other choice. We don't have a phone or money, so unless you want to hang around here until closing or walk around in circles looking for the others, we're just going to have to suck it up and head back on foot."

Hope looked appalled at the idea, but when Emma started walking around her and down towards the closest lift, she had no choice but to gather her own bags and rush after her or otherwise be left behind. She was not looking forward to the long walk home, especially with so many bags weighing them down the whole time and while wearing a pair of shoes that looked lovely, but were new and therefore starting to pinch at her heels. But in the end it was as her mother said; they had little choice in the matter.

 ***C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S***

Meanwhile with Regina and Zelena…

What had started out as such a good day was quickly becoming a disaster.

After Ella and Lucy had disappeared on them, Emma and Hope had run off somewhere right after and hadn't even bothered attempting to come back for whatever reason. When Regina checked her phone to see if either pair had called her, she found she had forgotten to switch it back on after switching it off to stop the constant buzz from Snow with pictures of the 'boy's day' she had accidentally crashed.

And now Zelena had gone and disappeared on them as well!

What happened to simple communication?! A quick, 'I'll be right back,' wouldn't kill anyone!

Regina paused, trying to take a moment to spot where Zelena had gone off. She had only just disappeared so she had to be close by somewhere, right? Regina had just spoken to her a second ago and without magic she couldn't get away that fast, right? Neither Robin, nor Alice seemed to have noticed and just as Regina was about to grab their attention to keep from losing the as well, she caught sight of a fluff of red hair off to the side.

"Zelena!" Regina called, rushing over and grabbing her arm before she could disappear again. "Where the hell did you go?!"

"I was trying to find Ella and Lucy," Zelena said, shrugging her off. "But I swear, the place is even more crowded than when we arrived!"

"Well come on. We need to catch up with Robin and Alice before we lose-" She trailed off when she turned to find the younger girls had already vanished into the rest of the crowds. "-Them…" She finished weakly.

"Where'd they go?" Zelena asked.

"I don't know!" Regina snapped. "I was too busy looking for you!"

"Hey, don't blame me. I was trying to help find the others." Zelena scowled.

"Well why couldn't you have told us you were before running off like that?!" Regina demanded.

"Oh well I'm so sorry for trying!" Zelena snapped.

"Alright, enough!" Regina waved her hands between them, stopping the argument. "We don't have time for this. We have to find everyone. Now come on."

Letting her sister take the lead, Zelena followed Regina down back into the crowd and along the first floor of the shopping centre. They rushed as best as they could, nudging past the people who got in their way but making sure not to get separated from one another again. It wouldn't do to find the others if they still lost one another in the process and had to start their searches all over again.

But despite their best efforts, the two of them were unable to find anyone else and after a couple hours of endless searching, they were finally running out of options and places to check. They tried finding someone to make an announcement over the loud speakers like they saw in movies, but the only woman who had the slightest bit of control of that sort of thing didn't appear to want to be of any help, claiming that unless a child was involved then there was nothing to be done about it, otherwise everyone would use them as a phone service for lost friends. And she didn't seem any more inclined to help then after Zelena began throwing insults at her – several involving a number of choice swear words – finally having to be dragged away by Regina, still kicking and screaming like a child.

"Okay, well now what do we do?!" Zelena snapped, sulking over the way Regina kept her from telling that ugly cow what she really thought of her stupid rules. She wished Emma was still around. She'd like to see another display of her earlier aggression back when they were having lunch. "We could wander around this place all day and not find them in this crowd! For all we know, they could have all gone home already and left us here."

"Zelena, you are not helping!" Regina snapped back, stalking slightly ahead in her frustration.

"Well neither are you! You're just running around like a headless chicken!"

Regina came to a sharp stop and started to retort, only to stop herself short, forcing herself to breathe deeply and calm herself down instead. Zelena was right about that much, as much as it pained Regina to admit. She couldn't help anyone by running around in a huff, or getting more annoyed with the situation, especially as there really was nothing to do about it. They should have planned for this better, but since it was their first real time leaving the United Realms in such a big group for a day trip, none of them had even though twice about the possibilities of getting lost and separated.

When Regina continued to hover silently for a moment, Zelena stepped up beside her and shrugged. "So what do we do now? Keep looking for them or head home?"

"I don't want to just leave them here." Regina said instantly.

"Well we can't help them by staying." Zelena said. "If we go home, we can give them a call or use a spell to find out where they are."

"True…" Regina mumbled, chewing her lip before sighing and nodding. "Okay. Let's head home. We'll have to call a ride since Robin has the keys. We can get them to drop off at the gas station closest to the town line then walk the rest of the way."

"Sounds like a plan." Zelena nodded, eagerly to be back in her comfort zone. The paused; "How are we going to call for a ride exactly?"

Regina rolled her eyes. "We have phones, don't we?"

Zelena snorted. "I meant, who do we call? I don't know any cab numbers off by heart and I'm pretty sure it's been a while since you had to call for one either."

"Well then we'll ask someone." Regina said, not in the mood for Zelena's negativity. "I'm sure there will be something in a place like this."

"Whatever. Let's just find out whoever we need to call and head to the closest gas station. It's the on down Bradfield, so it shouldn't take too long to get to by car." Zelena said, following Regina back towards the crowd, searching the people for a friendly face – and secretly hoping they'd accidentally discover the others at the same time.

"No," Regina said suddenly. "We head towards Preston Way, down passed the crossroads and to that gas station."

"Crossroad? We never passed any crossroad. We went over the bridge and-"

"What car did you ride in?! There were no bridges on the way here."

The two had come to another stop and were glaring at each other. People passed by and shot them curious looks but no one paused to see what happened next and after a moment people stopped staring and began avoiding looking at them altogether, like they were afraid of being caught in the tension that was rapidly building between the two young women.

"This is going to be a long trip home." Regina grumbled after a long silence.

"If we even get home." Zelena retorted irritably.

 ***C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S***

Finally, Back With Alice and Robin…

Robin sighed, sitting back on the bench and glaring at her phone like it was the small silver devices fault that she couldn't get through to everyone. Shortly after they had begun looking for the others, she had received a text from Ella, checking that she and Alice were okay and letting them know she and Lucy had made it home safe. Ella was trying to contact everyone else as well, but had so far only been able to get through to the two of them. She promised they would keep trying, but they had already sent Henry and Chad out to find Regina and Zelena, so hopefully they'd be able to track them two down before something happened to the now magic-less witches.

"You okay?" Alice asked, moving to sit beside her, placing their shopping bags at their feet.

"Yes," Robin sighed, reaching up and rubbing her head. "Ella and Lucy are home safe, and I trust Emma can take care of herself and Hope just fine. But where the hell did mum and aunt Regina get to? They were right behind us when we were passing the sports shop and then just disappeared! You'd think they would have paid better attention to where they were going of all people."

"Maybe they went to look for Emma and Ella? Or got pushed away by the crowds?" Alice suggested.

"There's not that big a crowd," Robin insisted bitterly. She knew the people from Storybrooke weren't as used to the hustle and bustle that Margot had experienced in her travels, but come on! This was a light gathering at most, yet they all acted so stunned when they walked through the doors that morning. Sighing again, Robin rubbed the last of the headache from her temples and slouched down slightly. "So what do we do? Hang around waiting for them all day?" Robin groaned, finally pocketing her phone.

Alice glanced around at the crowd still fussing past them in a rush to finish off their own shopping. When they had first gotten here, Alice had been a little nervous at just how intense it was as much as everyone else, and had clung onto Robin's hand for the first few stops. But gradually she began to relax, finding more courage and browsing the shops without hesitating until she felt just like everyone else. But sitting down, looking up at them all, knowing some of the friends were lost in amongst the crowd, it was suddenly intimidating all over again.

"Maybe we should head home." Alice suggested finally.

"Now?" Robin blinked.

"Yeah," Alice said. "I mean I know you're worried, but we both know everyone can handle themselves and it's getting late. Plus, we have a better chance figuring out what to do when we're back home." She glanced around helplessly. "I'm feeling pretty useless just sitting here waiting for them."

Robin thought it over for a moment before nodding. She stood up and clapped her hands together. "Yeah. You're right. I'm not sitting here all day when they're all probably back home anyway."

Alice smiled and stood, grabbing the bags she had dropped. "It was fun until everyone started disappearing." She noted as they began walking for the car park.

"Yeah, did you get everything you wanted?" Robin asked.

"Pretty much," Alice said, then cringed. "But I still don't think the present for papa is right. What I got him is nice enough," She said, referring to the wallet she had gotten with a pirate anchor on the front cover. "But it isn't the perfect gift I was hoping for."

"Well there's still time to do some more shopping before Christmas day." Robin noted.

"I guess…"

Robin could tell Alice wasn't convinced. She was putting far too much pressure on herself to get the most perfect present for her dad. And if she kept it up, she was just going to end up so disappointed.

"Come on." Robin said, nudging Alice gently, trying to cheer her up. "I'll make up some hot chocolate when we get back."

"Yeah, sure." Alice said, forcing a smile and trying to appear like she was more cheerful than she really was.

It seemed there was nothing else Robin could do for her. At least not while they were out and about like this. Once they got back home, it would be easier to make her forget about her problems but until then, they still had to put up with a long drive, and it was hard enough getting here, what with Alice's travel sickness.

They had discovered, while driving to Storybrooke back when they were looking or help against WishRumple, that Alice was very weak to motion sickness. She could last for short journeys, but the longer it took, the more uncomfortable and unhappy she became and if the trip was a really long one then she would be physically sick. And it was made even worse by the fact that Robin had been driving on the way to the centre and therefore unable to comfort her, instead having to leave that to Emma and Ella. And to make matters even worse, now they would be going home with just the two of them so there was no one else to comfort her at all.

As they approached the mini bus they had rented to get their group here – now no longer really needed since losing half said group – Robin glanced nervously back at Alice, seeing her face paling at just the sight of the vehicle. If nothing else, then at least they knew Robin could take all the back way roads in order to get home. It would take twice as long, but they would avoid all other traffic and they could make as many stops as needed this time round. And even just a brief five minute stop seemed to help Alice's stomach settle somewhat.

"You ready?" Robin asked, climbing inside and dumping their bags on all the empty seats available to them.

"Yeah," Alice nodded, slouching in her seat beside Robin. She really was ready to just be home.

"We'll make it nice as easy as I can." Robin promised, starting the vehicle and pulling out of the parking space.

 ***C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S***

"I'm really sorry." Alice breathed, leaning heavily against Robin as they wandered through a wooded area into a small cottage like town; searching for a place they could get a drink of water.

"Stop apologizing." Robin insisted, giving her a one arm hug. "It's fine. I like it. We're making a good day last longer!"

Alice smiled sadly at her and took a deep breath through her nose, already feeling a little more at ease. She suffered the sickness badly, but it didn't take very long of being out on her own two feet for the feeling to start passing.

The town they had wandering into was on one of the most deserted roads home. It was something close to run down, like the kind of place that didn't appear to get very many visitors passing through it. Robin could tell, not only because it had a lingering old feel to it – what with all the buildings faded colours of grey and brown and a series of crocked fences and overgrown weeded gardens, like they didn't care to keep up appearances any more – but she and Alice couldn't help but notice that almost everyone they passed glanced their way. When they all looked up at them, they watched the pair wander by for just enough time to almost be awkward. Only when they were all but on top of them did each person finally give them a slightly suspicious – yet still friendly – smile before turning back to their daily tasks and leaving the girls be.

It was not the brightest of places but Alice saw it as being very quaint and simple. She almost found the little houses and cobbled stone roads cute, and liked how everything matched so perfectly, even with the smoky smell drifting from the chimneys. The only problem was that everything was so neat and tidy and similar, that it took Alice and Robin a moment before they found somewhere to rest.

They nearly walked right past the only place in town before realizing that while it looked like someone's home, it had actually been remodeled so that the first floor was a cozy little café. There was a tied off area to the stairs where the owners no doubt lived, but their living room and dining room had been combined into one with a series of tables chairs and even a sofa by the window, and a counter had been set up in front of the door that led into the kitchen. There were also a series of trinkets spread out across the side for sale, mostly things with the town's name on and nothing of interest but Alice was oddly fascinated, wandering over and looking at everything while they waited to be served.

Just as Alice began to finger a square gold and silver keychain, the kitchen door swung open and an older woman appeared holding a bottle of polish in one hand and a yellow rag in the other. She jumped at the sight of them but quickly put on her best smile and rushed to the counter.

"Oh, hello, ladies!" The woman said immediately, standing straight and beaming at them as she dropped her cleaning rag onto the bench behind her. "What can I do for you?"

"Can we get some water?" Robin asked politely.

"Of course!" The woman turned and ducked under the counter, opening a mini fridge and pulling out a plastic bottle.

"Anything else?" The woman asked brightly.

Alice accepted the bottle while Robin debated whether or not she should pick up a coke for herself while they were here. But before Alice could take her first sip, she paused as something caught her eyes. It was sitting on a hanger in front of her on the edge of the counter top. She reached out and picked up the object, holding it carefully between her fingers. Most of the counter items were just a series of ugly looking pens, pads, key rings and an endless line of sweets and chocolates that Robin would have happily gorged on if not for the fact that she did a quick double take on the outrageous prices for them.

But in amongst the rest of the tacky items, there was something that stood out as actually quite nice and unique. It was that, that Alice picked up and she found herself staring down at it in awe.

"You like that?" Robin asked.

"It's perfect." Alice breathed, looking up at Robin. "This is it. Papa will love it!"

"That too, please." Robin nodded.

"Of course!" The woman smiled, ringing it all up.

Alice pressed her lips together and looked at Robin, smiling softly. "You ever think some things happen for a reason?"

Robin was about to snort at the idea, rolling her eyes for emphasis but stopped herself short. She glanced from the item in her hand back up to Alice's wide eyed expression. And she found herself thinking back to all the events that led to their first meeting, and then all the meetings they had after that – including the one they had when they were cursed.

Yeah. Maybe Robin did believe all things happened for a reason.

Later, she just wished she could figure out what the reason was for Zelena and Regina getting lost and drifting five hours further away from home than when they started.

* * *

 **Fun fact, this little "cottage run down town" and the cafe inside someone's home was inspired by somewhere I went on my last holiday. It was cute but it clearly didn't get many visitors and the stuff the cafe was selling was pretty naff but I like the idea of Alice finding her perfect gift there.**  
 **The gift will be revealed later btw ;)**


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